1969: Radio Prague goes back to the bad old days

In the course of 1969 and 1970 Czechoslovak Radio was transformed back into
what it had been in the 1950s, a tool of hard line propaganda. In the
process, over 700 radio staff were forced to leave their jobs. Those who
stayed found their freedom of expression severely curtailed. To give an
idea of the extent to which things had changed by August 1969 - the first
anniversary of the Soviet led invasion – I will start with a short
extract from Radio Prague’s broadcasts back in 1968, as the tanks rolled
into the city. At the time the radio was playing a crucial role in keeping
the world informed of what was really happening – including reports of
violent incidents as the invading troops opened fire on civilians:

Liberec in 1968, photo: Institute of Contemporary History“Sad news has reached us from the North Bohemian town of Liberec, where
deplorable incidents and conflicts with the occupation armies have taken
place today. The clash is reported to have ended with six dead and 47
wounded Czechoslovak citizens.”

Exactly a year later, we can hear a very different message from Radio
Prague, as it reports on the huge protest demonstrations to mark the first
anniversary of the invasion. Unnervingly, the following report is read by
the same announcer whom we have just heard reacting with horror at the
brutality of the invasion the year before:

“Crowds of gawkers began to form and in order to cope with the confusion
riot units had to use batons, tear-gas and water from fire-hoses. This
continued on Thursday afternoon and evening. However, police and army units
and People’s Militia had been well prepared and by Thursday night the
situation was fully under control.”

Photo: Institute of Contemporary History
Using the heavy-handed techniques that became so familiar in the years
that followed, Czechoslovakia’s new hard line leaders made it clear that
they had the country firmly under their thumb – and that included Radio
Prague’s broadcasts, which in August 1969 took the official line quite
uncritically:

“So after those few excited days, we are now able to pose the question
– what is the result of all this? On the one hand the sum is discouraging
– five people dead, a number of wounded, material damage in the streets
and on public installations. On the other hand, the result is a failure for
the forces that are openly hostile to socialism. The bulk of the population
– the workers in the first place – could not be persuaded to stage a
massive strike or some other national demonstration.”

The process of discrediting the reforms of the Prague Spring accelerated
at a pace, and in 1970 the radio went so far as to broadcast a whole series
devoted to proving that the reforms of 1968 had been hijacked by rightist
reactionaries. Here is a short extract:

“In radio and television programmes, in newspapers and magazines,
engaged journalists are continuing to expose the real intentions of those
right-wingers. On the basis of factual evidence, the public is beginning to
understand that the seemingly noble words of those people concealed nothing
but careerism and anti-humanism, goals that have nothing at all in common
with socialism.”

By 1970 the process of turning the Prague Spring into a
“counter-revolution” was more or less complete.